Gothic Horror Adventure! The World

The World of Fog is a place in many ways similar to Europe in the 1700s and 1800s. A few great Empires like the Holy Roman Empire and Frankia stand astride a continent filled with hundreds of squabbling free cities and principalities. There are the first stirrings of nationalist fervour, but nothing has come out of it yet.

The Campaign will start in the Holy Roman Empire, in the Kingdom of Valahia.

Holy Roman Empire

The Holy Roman Empire is a vast multi-ethnic empire, struggling to balance centralizing reforms with the demands for liberalization and continued local government. Among artists and liberal politicians there is a sense that the modern age is passing the Empire by. On the other hand the great cities of the Empire remain centres of fashion, of finance, and of invention, as all kinds of marvellous devices are created for the amusement of the nobles.

Government of the Holy Roman Empire

Kaiser Johan-August II

The elderly Johan-August always wanted to be a reformer, a great liberal Emperor. Yet he himself is often his own greatest enemy, for he is remarkably impatient with people who use their freedoms in ways he does not approve of. In his old age he has slowly become more conservative, but also more determined to carry through centralizing reforms.

Though he is not the absolute ruler of the Empire he is still the most powerful man in it. No law can be passed without the Emperor's signature. He maintains all foreign policy, declares wars and agrees to peace settlements at his leisure. His person is sacrosanct and his cabinet takes all responsibility for his actions. Most importantly the Emperors pleasure is the difference between social exaltation and utter ruin.

The Cabinet

This is the body of ministers that actually handle most of the top level governing of the Empire. For the most part it is ruin by a collection of minor nobles promoted by the Emperor who wants to make certain that his cabinet is loyal to him alone. The main exception is the Chancellor who is also the titular Duke of Stanislau, and rumoured to be the Emperor's bastard son.

The Secret Chancellery

The feared Secret Police of the Empire! Though in fact it tends to limit itself to snooping on the mail and telegraph system, and infiltrating various radical student movements. Very little is known about them, which is probably how they like it. There is however a large number of lurid novels written about agents of the Secret Chancellery, some lauding them as wholesome heroes, others with a rather unhealthy focus on femme fatales and dungeons.

The Senate

Each constituent state in the Empire is entitled to send a representative to the Senate, chosen in whatever way that state deems most appropriate. Only the Senate can pass Empire wide taxes or laws, regulate the internal borders of the Empire, or select a new Emperor. This of course means that the Senate can effectively veto any major war-efforts on the Emperor's part simply by refusing to raise the necessary taxes.

The Privilegia

This is a set of laws and regulations that effectively guarantee the internal autonomy of each state in the Empire. Over the last few decades it has been weakened, but never abolished. Each state still jealously guards its interests, even at the expense of the Empire as a whole.

Kingdom of Valahia

This is where the campaign begins. Valahia is blessed with fertile soil, making it a major breadbasket for the Empire. The eastern parts of Valahia are flat and rather featureless, but towards the west the landscape grows more rugged. The western border is the Karavange mountains and to the east the Axsainian sea. Turning south you come to lands still bound by the receding Fog.

Valahia is vaguely eastern European, with powerful nobles and backwards peasants. It is still plagued by spots where the Fogs lingered on, meaning that odd creatures and strange events are far from unheard of. In short you can think of mythical Transylvania or Poland, with a bit of Barovia (from Ravenloft) mixed in. Despite that the larger cities are quite modern, but once you leave them it's like entering another century.

Government of Valahia

King Karl

King Karl is a constitutional monarch who still retains full executive powers, though any act he passes must be counter-signed by a minister who then becomes responsible for it. In addition to this he remains the fount of honour, the sole source of titles and knightly orders in Valahia. Unlike the Emperor King Karl is a genuine liberal who has accomplished much, including the full emancipation of the serfs some thirty years ago. He is also a nationalist, seeking to gather all Valahians under one banner in order to protect their language and culture.

Cabinet

As in the Empire this is the body of ministers that actually handle most of the top level governing of the Kingdom. Unlike the Empire it consists mostly of career politicians from the ruling political party. Although the King is free to select anyone he pleases to form a new Cabinet, Parliament is also free to demand a new Cabinet by passing a vote of no confidence.

Parliament

Valahia has a bicameral parliament divided into a Senate and a Chamber of Deputies. As in most bicameral parliaments the Senate is responsible for reviewing laws that are initiated and passed by the Chamber of Deputies. Parliament in union is the only body which can pass laws or taxes. The King may at any time dissolve the Parliament and announce new elections, but in reality only uses this power if asked to do so by his Cabinet or Parliament.

Suffrage

In theory every adult male who holds property is entitled to vote. However voters are divided into three main electoral groups depending on their income and property. This means that the votes of the very rich count for far more than the votes of the average working man, while at the same time disenfranchising most landless labourers.

Valahian Politics

Political Parties

The Conservative Party

The party of the land owners and the middle classes, they are religious, loyal to the Emperor, and not prone to rocking the boat. The Conservatives try to promote agriculture, light industry, and traditional crafts. In terms of society they are deeply traditional, seeking to keep things just the way they are.

Currently the governing party.

The Liberal Party

The party of the burghers and academia, they want to push Valahia into the modern age. Economically they try to promote a modernised banking system and land reform. In addition they are in favour of universal suffrage, universal education, women's rights, Jewish rights, and a host of other issues. They are also a nationalist party who seek to unite all Valahians in the Kingdom of Valahia.

King Karl is known to be sympathetic to their cause, but is unwilling to ask a minority party to form a government.

Political Issues

Although there are quite a few political issues between the Conservatives and the Liberals, there are a handful that are more contentious than most.

Land Reform

The Liberals want to change the constitution so as to break up the great estates and distribute the land among the peasants. They also want to create a Land Bank that will offer affordable loans to the peasants to help them develop their lands. The latter is to prevent a repeat of the previous disastrous land reform, which resulted in most of the land reverting to the nobles within a few decades.

The Conservatives are utterly against this. They argue that the peasants would only split up their farms among their all too many sons, thereby destroying any economies of scale. The fact that the nobles bought most of the land back after the last land reform is held up as evidence that further reforms will accomplish nothing but bothering the landowners.

The issue is however growing increasingly volatile; friendships and families have fallen apart as a result of arguing about land reform.

Nationalism

The Liberals argue that all Valahians should be united under one flag, to protect Valahian people against oppression and to promote Valahian language and culture. The majority of the Liberal Party wants to work within the framework of the Empire to accomplish this. A radical minority however would like to see the Empire shattered, so that all people can have their own country.

The Conservative party line argues that there is no reason to unite under one flag. After all Valahians in the Emperor's demesne are not subject to any serious abuse, nor are they prevented from travelling to Valahia proper. Beside what would be accomplished by Valahia having a bit more land and a few more people? Even if you look aside from all that, that sort of talk only risks drawing the Emperor's ire.

Valahian Economy

Valahias economy is utterly dominated by the agricultural sector which employs 76% of the working population. Despite that overpopulation means that there's a huge labour surplus, which fails to find any outlet in the countryside or in the cities. So far efforts to create domestic industry have been relatively unsuccessful, though Weissburg and Tomis has several large textile mills.

Valahian Transportation

For the most part Valahia is very backwards. This is reflected in their transport infrastructure. Though recent outside investment has begun to improve the situation, much of the country is still practically medieval.

Waterways

Most transport in Valahia is done on the Istros River or one of its many subsidiaries. Though many barges are still pulled by oxen or teams of barge haulers, the new age has reached Valahia too, and most barges are now motorized. The Istros is without a doubt one of the largest traffic arteries in the Empire and sitting by its shores you can see barges and even ships from every part of the Empire.

Railways

Railways are quite rare in Valahia, but recently the receding Fogs have made outsiders from the more developed parts of the Empire more willing to invest. As a result a railway has been built along the shores of the Istros, linking Weissburg and Tomis to the railway network of the rest of the Empire. As part of this development another railway track has been laid towards the south, enabling rapid transfer of troops in case something comes out of the Fogs.

Roads

There are roads in Valahia, but outside of the cities they are invariably dirt roads. After the autumn rains it can be quite hard to see the difference between a road and the field it's next to. The road network is atrocious to the point where the only way to move large amounts of cargo is by railway or by water.

Valahian Culture

To understand the question of Valahian culture you must first understand the difference between Valahian culture and culture in Valahia. The first is the actual, legitimate native culture of Valahia as mostly found in the countryside these days. The second is the culture of the middle and upper classes, mostly copied from Österland and Francia.

Valahian Culture

Native Valahian clothing is often depicted as bright and colourful with lovely embroideries and silver jewellery. Such costumes do indeed exist, but they are almost exclusively reserved for great feast days. Likewise the tall, conical fur hats do indeed exist, but are worn mostly by rich merchants, village elders, and priests. The average Valahian woman does indeed have colourful clothing for everyday use, but it is of a simple cut and using fairly cheap materials. The men prefer more dour colours for their day to day clothes, and usually wear heavy felt hats.

Much of Valahian culture resolves around music and storytelling. Often the two are combined by the ever popular balladeers. A Valahian balladeer does on the spot improvisations on well known themes and old stories. The results can be quite fascinating the first time you hear it, but if you are familiar with the genre it might soon seem stale. Beyond that peasant entertainment consists heavily of dancing, singing and drinking. Small joys that are accessible even to the poor.

Centuries of living close to the Fogs has left the native Valahians intensely superstitious. Though they are Christian and put great stock in crucifixes, bibles, and clerical blessings, they also sacrifice to various local spirits. The exact details of local superstitions vary enormously, but so far all efforts to wean them off their beliefs have failed. This could partly be because many of these superstitions are very useful survival techniques for dealing with Fog Creatures.

Culture in Valahia

The educated urban classes often express a great love and affection for native Valahian culture, provided of course that it is presented in the proper setting: a group of peasant musicians playing in the streets of Weissburg; a balladeer performing in the opera; or some priest publishing the various stories and superstitions that he has gathered during his travels in the countryside. These things are often called the "living heritage of our nation" and even draw outside attention for their simple purity. Of course only a hick would practise native Valahian culture outside of these settings. And though the imaginary peasant is praised for his wonderful qualities, the actual peasant is seen as a potentially violent and rather backwards type.

Ordinarily culture in Valahia is either imported or copied from Österland or Francia. That is to say the aristocracy and the rich burghers import it, while everyone else copies them with varying degrees of success.

With the railway it is now possible for Valahians to be fully up to date with Francian and Österlandish fashions and entertainment. The upper classes read Francian novels and listen to Österlandish opera. They dress in fashions imported from either of these countries, though usually made by local tailors. Some of them even speak in French or German at home, though this is growing rarer with the strengthening of national sentiments. It is in fact nearly impossible to tell a Valahian gentleman from an Österlandish gentleman, unless the former puts on a colourful native costume.

The attempts to copy this varies from the credible, merely being a month or a year behind the latest fashions. To the ridiculous: peppering your speech with French or German words or sayings; wearing out of fashion clothing; and overall showing that you lack both the budget and the taste to be cultured. Not that this ever stopped anyone.